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TonguesThis is the only play I've written to date. It won the John Gassner Prize for Playwriting, and it was first produced by the American Southwest Theatre Company in 1999. The play is set in a residential psychiatric center, and the basic premise is that a receptionist has developed a relationship with one of the clients. She takes advantage of unusual circumstances to make her own attempt at therapy. This excerpt is from early on in the play: DEE I go by Dee. TODD Twenty-what? Four? Five? From the Midwest. Rural. Middle-class. Less sure of yourself than you’re willing to let on. Welcome to the big time, Deirdre. What shoes those are, I think I know; their place is in Bloomingdale’s though – A week’s salary on a single pair of shoes, Deirdre? DEE I go by Dee and I like these shoes. TODD As do I. Tell me something. About Dr. Velarde – how often does he touch you? I can tell he hasn’t laid a hand on any of your explosive parts, but – DEE Dr. Velarde and I have a professional relationship. TODD Is that so? What do you charge him? DEE I was warned you were rude. I didn’t expect you to be sophomoric. TODD All right, here’s another one. Why does a woman – a hypothetical woman – a middle-class, middle-western type, burdened with a nowhere clerical job in a two-bit clinic that caters to those bereft of reason but not of cash, an intelligent and attractive woman with a practiced edginess and a genuine edge, why does this woman find her boss sexually intriguing and yet resist his advances, although she has no lover and has not had one for a very long time? |
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